1 sett 1979 anni - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

Descrizione:

|1979|

CAUSES:
- Brezhnev was worried about the growing power of Islamic fundamentalism - lead by the mujahideen in Afghanistan. They wanted to overthrow Amin's government and set up a Muslim state. The USSR itself contained over 30 million Muslims near the Afghan boarder and Brezhnev worried that they would start to support the mujahideen and start rebelling and demanding changes to the Soviet Union. e.g. introduction of Islamic law or even independence. Therefore Islamic fundamentalism was a big threat to both the Soviet Union and communist system.
- Despite receiving Soviet military aid, Amin was not friendly with the USSR and wanted to build relations with the US. Therefore Amin was seen as a threat to the Soviet Union and the USSR wanted to invade and replace him with a friendlier president.
- If the US did gain influence in Afghanistan, it would threaten the USSR's security ('cause they boarder) and their interests in the Persian Gulf.

WHAT HAPPENED:
- More than 50,000 Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. Amin was murdered and a new government set up led by Kabul. Kabul was a previous Afghan leader who was exiled to the USSR so the soviets therefore knew he would be friendly.
- When Amin was murdered, many Afghan soldiers deserted to join the mujahideen because they didn't support Kabul. Therefore Kabul's position as leader was completely dependent on soviet military support.
- Brezhnev told the world that the invasion had been necessary to restore order in Afghanistan (the mujahideen were threatening the Afghan government) and told Carter that soviet troops had been invited by Amin to protect the Afghan government and that troops would be removed as soon as the situation stabilised (they weren't removed until 1989 - 10 years later)

CONSEQUENCES:
- Carter issued the Carter Doctrine. This policy stated that the USA would use military force if necessary to defend their national interests in the Persian Gulf region. The US wanted to protect the route which supplied oil from the middle east to the US and Western Europe; if the USSR got to much influence in the middle east they would threaten this oil supply. Carter saw the invasion of Afghanistan as a potential stepping-stone to the soviet control of most of the middle east.
- The USA promised to support the mujahideen who were carrying out guerrilla warfare against the soviets and Kabul's government in order to win back their country.
- Carter cut all trade (grain and technology) with the USSR.
- Carter Pressured the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) to boycott the Moscow Olympic games in 1980, the US team was joined by 61 other teams. This worsened relations even more.

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